people were shot to death in the 800 block of mead avenue in west oakland. then at about 2:30, one person was killed in a stabbing on walnut street in the seminary area of oakland. police are investigating the possibility that the killings are related. the chp pulled a bmw over for speeding in oakland last night but when officers walked toward the car the driver took off. a minute later crashed into a lincoln continental at the 98th avenue on-ramp to i-580. someone in the back seat of the lincoln was killed. the bmw's driver was caught shortly after taking off. a shooting now under investigation at an east bay bart station. the 18-year-old victim is expected to recover. he was shot in the parking lot at the pittsburg-bay point station just before 7:00 last night. at this time, they don't have any suspects. the shooting and investigation caused some major delays though for bart riders.

gunfire from police hit the suspect at an el cerrito gas station. it happened last night just after 6:30. police say they came across a man pistol whipping a woman at a chevron station at san pablo and potrero avenues. two officers opened fire hitting the suspect. he is now in critical condition. the contra costa d.a.'s office is investigating along with the police. we now have the identity of a young man killed by police in walnut creek. he was 22-year-old anthony banta. police got a 911 call from a screaming woman at the diablo point apartments at about 3:00 yesterday morning. when officers arrived, they say they were confronted by banta, who was armed. but so far, they are not saying what kind of weapon or how many times he was shot. an autopsy is planned later today. it is 6:02. we have another big holiday weekend approaching and we have rain, right? >> we do. and this is not even the worst of it. you can see this big glob of green right now heading towards the bay area. this is only going to bring us

possibly a sprinkle or two in the north bay. the real storm system is actually just behind it. so yeah, it's another wet day on tap. if you thought you were done with your umbrella, well, you're going to need to bring it back out again and bring a jackets, too. temperatures are pretty cold right now and remain chilly throughout the day. so this is what we're watching. this is the low on the approach once again rain showers looking unsettled actually through at least the first half of tomorrow. here's a live look along the embarcadero. so it is dry for now. you can see it all lit up for the holidays. temperatures though definitely chilly. 35 right now in concord. 35 as well in livermore. so some of the east bay valleys, that is where we're really getting close to freeze, not quite but definitely cold. san francisco a little more mild mid-40s there. so by this afternoon, we are going to see a lot of low to mid-50s. these temperatures are going to feel slightly cooler actually than what we even saw yesterday. so let's hit the roads and talk traffic right now. we'll take you out towards the

dublin interchange. once again the roads are dry for now. and it l.a.x. like it's going to stay that -- it looks like it's going to stay that way for much of the morning. the commute, if you want to call it that, has been exceptionally quiet. i just checked in with our chp reports that have all the latest incidents and there's nothing on there right now. so westbound 580 looks great. heading towards the dublin interchange, we can take you to our maps and show you the drive time for had stretch. 15 minutes still in the green between the altamont pass to the dublin interchange. there may still be some roadwork on the eastbound lanes of 580 through livermore. not causing much of a delay at all at this point and a quick look out in the east bay. the nimitz 880 is fine near the oakland coliseum. that's traffic and weather. back to you guys. >> thank you. oakland is hiring some new help as it tries to cut down on crime in the city. legendary lawman bill bratton will become a consultant now for the oakland pd. he helped reduced violent crime when heed haded up new york and the l.a. police departments -- when he headed up new york and the l.a. police departments. some people aren't sure a new

consultant isn't the solution in oakland. >> it might tamp some of it down just like putting armed guards on every street corner might tamp some of it down but it won't make people's lives better. i live over in the rolling 20s in a rough naked. there are a lot of miserable people there. they're not miserable because they're unhappy. they're miserable because they have no hope and them no money. >> oakland city council votes next month on the plan to hire bratton for some $250,000. a bay area officer lost two guns to burglars who hit his home in antioch. the officer, who works for an undisclosed bay area agency, returned home wednesday night to find three burglars in his home. when he went in, they ran out the back and apparently used one of the stolen guns to keep the officer from catching them. >> he did give chase and the -- one of the suspects did drop some of the property that was stolen. at the same time, one of the suspects fired a shot in the air. and at that point, the resident

ceased giving chase. >> lasts month in booth -- last month in brentwood another officer's home was hit. that officer shot and wounded one suspect. police say one of two men in fairfield pulled out a handgun sunday when a 7-eleven clerk opened a cash register. no word on how much was stolen. this is one of two armed robberies within minutes of each other. police think they are related. there are apparently some delayed effects from recent rains. a portion of a cliff collapsed at baker beach yesterday in san francisco. one of the trails there is now closed. the collapse yesterday is likely the result of all the rain we have had the past couple of weeks. a big milestone today for san francisco's muni. the public transit system is turning 100 years old and there's a big celebration designed to benefit every rider for the next 24 hours. cbs 5 reporter cate caugiran is in the city to give us a little history lesson and tell us what is in store for all the folks that jump on board today. cate, good morning. >> reporter: good morning,

frank. it's nice that it's muni's birthday and they're offering a present to the public. we're actually at geary and market, where the first muni line started 100 years ago and it ran from here downtown all the way to 33rd avenue. now, today the transit group serves 200 million passengers a year. muni has a network of 63 bus routes, a historic light rail system, streetcars and three cable car lines. now, before muni's existence, the city's public transit involved horse-drawn buggies. to celebrate the 100th birthday all of muni services including the cable cars will be free until 5 a.m. tomorrow. originally muni was going to charge riders five-cent fares because that was the fare 100 years ago but, no, they are going to give it to you for free today, which is nice. this isn't last time they will be offering free fares to riders. they will do it again new year's eve as they have done the past 13 years. live in san francisco, cate caugiran, cbs 5. >> thank you. this afternoon, president obama will meet with congressional leaders in the latest effort to find a way out

of a budget impasse. but as cbs reporter tara mergener tells us, it's not even clear if there's enough time to get a bill through congress before january 1. reporter: the "fiscal cliff" is still a few days away. but business owners don carlino says he is already feeling the impact. >> a lot of our customers are holding back. they are apprehensive. they are not committing to projects. they're not --you know, they are waiting to see what's going to happen with the "fiscal cliff." >> reporter: and hope is fading that congress can get a deal done before tax hikes and spending cuts kick in january 1. >> i am not optimistic. >> reporter: even congressional leaders are skeptical. >> the american people have a right to be very upset with this congress. >> reporter: president obama has invited nancy pelosi, john boehner, mitch mcconnell and harry reid to the white house this afternoon for a "fiscal cliff" summit. >> here we are five days from the new year, and we might finally start talking. >> reporter: today's white house meeting might be the last chance to come to an agreement. that's because it takes time for a bill to work its way

through both chambers of congress. >> i don't know time-wise how it can happen now. >> reporter: under senate rules the only way a bill could make its way through the procedure hurdles in time is if every senator agrees not to slow the progress. the house will be back here sunday night giving them just more than 24 hours to vote on any bill the senate works out. outside the beltway, carlino will be watching. >> everybody's kind of in a wait-and-see and fingers crossed perspective right now. >> reporter: since 1930, this is only the fifth time congress has worked after christmas. tara mergener for cbs news, washington. today's meeting will be the first time president obama and all four leaders of the house and senate have met in person since november 16. >> time to get it done. secretary of state hillary clinton will be back to work

next week after three weeks off after a concussion she suffered when she fainted fighting a stomach virus. she is looking forward to resume her schedule, including testifying before congress about the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya last september. retired general known as "stormin' norman" has passed away. norman schwartzkopf died of complications from pneumonia yesterday in his home in florida. he was raised in the army and spent his life in fact military of. while in vietnam he famously rescued a wounded soldier by marking land mines with shaving cream. of course later he commanded the american led coalition in the iraq war. schwartzkopf was 78. time now 6:10. families torn apart before they even meet their children. the political issue causing russia to ban american adoptions. >> plus it happened again. a man is killed by being shoved on the new york city subway tracks. >> and a pooch stuck in the middle of an icy lake. who jumped into action in the

nick of time. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

named bart was taking a walk with his owner yesterday wh a tale of danger and rescue on lake erie in michigan involving two men and a dog. a walker hound was taking a walk with his owner yesterday when the dog fell into the ice on the lake. the owner tried to get to him but was waist deep in freezing water. that's when he called his cousin. >> it broke and i fell in. i was probably about 3.5-foot- deep. i was talking to him, rubbing him, trying to get some blood flowing through his body. >> they were rescued an hour and a half later.

neither man nor dog was seriously hurt. >> they had to both be cold for an hour and a half in waist deep water. >> all's good. time for a little traffic and weather now. light because it's the holiday, right? >> yea. we often say "friday light." so it's holiday "friday light" not a lot going on. here's a leave look at the bay bridge toll plaza. they have not had to turn on the metering lights all week. it looks great heading into the city if you are heading out now even if you are heading out later we're anticipating, yeah, a lot less volume. so elsewhere we sent our photographer out this morning towards 101 along the peninsula. palo alto, the commute looks great southbound 101. to our maps. we have been mentioning this throughout the morning. our reporter cate caugiran will tell us more about this coming up. it's the 100th anniversary of muni. they are offering free rides all day long from 5 a.m. tomorrow morning. they are offering free rides from new year's eve night something they have been doing for years. everything on time so far no

delay for bart, your ferries, ace or caltrain. these are drive times for the east bay popular routes no problems down the eastshore freeway. looks exceptional through berkeley, emeryville, the nimitz and 24 no delay so far out of the caldecott tunnel if you are commuting towards oakland. a live look at the golden gate bridge, a little earlier we saw them do the lane changes across the span. silicon valley commute 880237. once again a lot of green drive times. not a whole lot of roadwork out there to slow you down, as well. let's talk about the weather forecast. things are changing this afternoon. here's a live look at our hi- def doppler. and you can see that storm system moving toward the bay area. and this is actually the light stuff. this could bring us a few sprinkles maybe in the north bay by this morning. the real storm system is actually just behind it out of range of our hi-def doppler for

the moment. but it is getting closer towards the bay area. dry to start and then again by this afternoon, chance of showers and then we are going to keep that unsettled weather at least for the first half of the weekend. so the satellite and radar shows you what's going on. all that blue sky, sunshine we saw yesterday, that's that high. it's now gone. it's now moving farther inland so this is the low bringing us plenty of clouds right now. and then rain showers by this afternoon. already raining in far northern california. we continue to time it out. you can see the clouds rolling in and then early afternoon, between 1:00, 2:00, that's when we first start to see the system hit the bay area first in the north bay and then scattered showers throughout the day. it's going to be light. there are some moderate cells in there, too. we are thinking about a half inch or less across the bay area. but it's going to be wet so bring an umbrella. so if you are doing any traveling towards lake tahoe, this is a great day to do it. no chain requirements right now on interstate 80 or highway 50. dry in sacramento, once again this is that rain and cold

temperatures in eureka and ukiah. cold as well not quite as cold as there but we are going to see low to mid-50s across the bay area. and then, the sunshine returns for sunday. another chance of rain monday. tuesday for new year's day, we're clear. and then showers return to wet weather once again on wednesday. kind of a mixed bag throughout the course of the week. that's a check of your traffic and weather. back to you guys. the storm that left record snowfall in arkansas and some 200,000 customers without any power is expected to head up north into canada today. that storm has kept roadworkers busy in the northeast after dumping snow across northern pennsylvania, upstate new york and all parts of new england overnight. at least 16 deaths are being blamed on the storm. a woman is wanted for murder in new york after she pushed a man into the path of a subway train. surveillance video released this morning shows the woman police are trying to find. witnesses say the woman pacing on the train platform in queens

when the train approached, she pushed the man on the tracks. >> unbelievable that these things happen in this neighborhood. >> what needs to be done it happened twice this month. they need to sloat trains down to about 15 miles an hour when they are coming into the -- they need to slow the trains down to about 15 miles per hour when they coming into the station so they have time to stop. >> police don't think the man saw the woman behind him. they are trying to determine if the two knew each other. it is 6:19 now. today russian president vladimir putin signed a law banning americans from adopting russian children. >> it will affect hundreds of families who want to adopt orphans from russia. that includes the fong family here in the bay area. they already have an adopted daughter from siberia and they were hoping for another addition to their family from russia in the coming year. >> we're fong family. we are want to provide a home to at least one boy from russia and, you know, we have a home, we have a loving family, we're

hoping that all this can move forward and this will be the last christmas he's alone. >> the law signed today was russia's response to president obama's anticorruption law. it denies russian officials from getting u.s. visas if they were associated with human rights violations. it's 6:20. coming up, what a turnaround story for san jose state's spartan football. >> quite a game yesterday. preparing for the big rose parade next week. how volunteers are getting those floats ready to shine on new year's day coming up. >> this is a great weekend to hit the slopes, good skiing conditions.

>> we'll have much more on our rainy forecast coming up after this. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

wins in one season.. they it's been more than 70 years since the spartans had 11 wins in one season. they had a chance to do it again yesterday at the military bowl in washington, d.c. we got the spartans going up against bowling green. they're in red. san jose's quarterback david fales is number one in the country completion percentage. 3rd quarter spartans are down by one and that's when we got our play of the day. watch! >> fales on third down. he has a first down inside the 5... he's in! what a play by chandler! >> mr. jones for the sidelines with the extra point put san

jose on top and the spartans won 29-20. a huge season, 11-2. congratulations to the spartans. >> wow. the mayors of palo alto and madison, wisconsin are putting their pride on the line in the form of a bet over the rose bowl game of course on new year's day. >> those are the two cities where stanford university and the university of wisconsin are located. the loser has to wear the other mayor's team's hat during a city council meeting, fly the winning team's flag for a day, and a tree planting in honor of the winning team. and one of the best parts of the rose bowl of course the rose parade in pasadena. 2,000 volunteers in irwindale are working on the floats. they are not easy to construct. it takes a whole team just to get one done. >> i believe all the floats are made with plant matter and roses and petals and sticks and

all that stuff. >> biodegreatable. >> always fun. >> 6:25. coming up we're inching ever so close to the edge. "fiscal cliff" and there's some folks meeting today. we'll tell you about that meeting coming up. >> and a police officer catches criminals in the act inside his own home. why he had to bail out on trying to catch them. and muni is celebrating 100 years in san francisco. we'll give you a little bit of history on the transit group and tell you how they're planning to celebrate today. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald hi, everyone. good morning. it is friday, december 28. i'm frank mallicoat. >> i'm michelle griego. time now just about 6:30. some developing news from oakland. police are at work at two crime

scenes after a total of three people were killed overnight. about 1:00 this morning two people were shot to death in the 800 block of mead avenue in west oakland. then at about 2:30, one person was killed in a stabbing on walnut street in the seminary area of oakland. police are investigating the possibility the killings are related. also in oakland, one person is dead from a collision involving a car fleeing a traffic stop. the driver of a bmw took off after police pulled the car over for speeding late last night. just a minute later, it crashed into a lincoln continental that was turning on interstate 580 from 98th avenue. a passenger was killed in the back seat of the lincoln. the bmw's driver was caught after running away. 6:30 now. an 18-year-old shot at an east bay bart station out of surgery this morning and is expected to survive. bart police found the victim in the parking lot at the pittsburg-bay point station just a few minutes before 7:00 last night. quickly taken over to john muir

hospital in walnut creek with life-threatening injuries. police say the shooting had something to do with a car rash in the parking lot. at this time they don't have any suspects. police in el cerrito opened fire at a gas station hitting a suspect. police say they found a man beating a woman just after 6:30 last night at a chevron station at san pablo and potrero avenues. they say he was pistol whipping her. two officers opened fire hitting him. that man is now in critical condition. the contra costa d.a.'s office is investigating the shooting along with police. an autopsy is planned today on the body of a man killed by police in walnut creek identified as 22-year-old anthony banta. police got a 911 call from a screaming woman at the diablo point apartments at about 3:00 yesterday morning. when officers arrived, they say they were confronted by banta, who was armed. but so far, they are not saying what kind of weapon he was using or how many times banta

was shot. let's switch gears now. 6:31. big holiday weekend a lot of folks off the next four days and we have a lot of rain. >> yes. >> a little rain, slight rain. toward the sierra this is a good time to beat some of the snow that we're expecting and rain later on this afternoon because look at this, our cbs 5 exclusive hi-def doppler showing you that system it inching closer and closer towards the bay area. so we are anticipating maybe a phi sprinkles in the morning just in the north bay and the real storm system is actually behind this. this is just the light stuff some clouds and some light rain in front of the real storm system that's to come. so yeah, we're not anticipating a whole lot of rain with this maybe a half inch or less. but you will feel it. it will get wet today through at least the first half of the weekend, saturday morning looks like it could be a little dicey, as well. and in fact they just issued a surf advisory for the coast so just a heads up, they issued that for tomorrow as that low whips up some of the surf in the area. so temperatures out the door right now, i want to show you

this. fairfield is now below freezing. so some of these temperatures have dropped here as we get closer towards sunrise. 34 in santa rosa. so some pool may be doing a little windshield wiper scraping this morning. patchy frost especially out in some of our valleys and in the north bay. 41 in oakland. mid-40s in places like san francisco. so it's cold outside, slightly colder today than even what we saw yesterday. so temperatures are going to be mainly in the low to mid-50s. coming up we'll check your seven-day forecast. i know everyone wants know what it's going to be like on new year's eve. let's talk traffic now. san mateo bridge looks great. this is a live look westbound and eastbound 92. so far everything is still moving at the limit. not too much problems on the roads so far this morning. it's a friday and holiday week so you combine those two and there's just not a lot of problems. this is one. chp is heading to the scene right now in novato. it's on the connector ramp from westbound 37 to northbound 101.

at this point they are not sure whether it's an accident or a stall. and we're not sure if it's blocking lanes. heads up in that area though. you may find some delays. elsewhere if you are heading southbound towards the golden gate bridge, across the span especially traffic this time of the morning delays 101 coming into san jose. all our live drive time sensors are showing too much st. peter's everything is on a weekday schedule. muni celebrating 100 years old offering free rides today and new year's eve night. president obama is trying to find a way out of the "fiscal cliff." mr. obama will hold a "fiscal cliff" summit with nancy pelosi, john boehner, mitch mcconnell and harry reid and today's meeting may be the last

realistic chance to come to an agreement before the end of the year. >> here we are five days from the new year, and we might finally start talking. >> i don't know time-wise how it can happen now. >> under senate rules, a bill could make its way through procedural hurdles in time only if every senator agrees not to slow down the progress. the house will not be back in session until sunday night. a former bay area city councilman is about to learn firsthand how washington works or doesn't work. 31-year-old newly elected congressman that man there eric swalwell is the new kid on the block and heading off to capitol hill to take part in all the quagmire there. swalwell a former dublin city councilman says he is ready to bring small-town solutions to capitol hill to help prevent an avoidable "fiscal cliff." >> i'm confident that there can still be a buzzer beater here where we can beat the clock and

deliver on middle class taxes. >> congressman swalwell will be the second youngest member of congress to be sworn in on january 3 at 31 years old. he leaves sunday for d.c. to get his keys to the new office. oakland is hiring new help as it tries to cut down on crime. legendary lawman bill bratton will become a consultant for oakland police. he helped reduce violent crime in new york and los angeles police departments. former san jose police chief and current hoover institution fellow joseph mcnamara hopes bratton gets support from oakland officials. >> previous chiefs were hired from the outside left, saying he didn't get the kind of support he needed to do the job. and i think this is a sign that they are willing to give someone who is competent that kind of support. >> the oakland city council votes next month on the plan to hire bratton for $250,000.

police say a contra costa county police officer came home to find three burglars inside his house. it happened on wednesday night in antioch. the officer tried to chase suspects but stopped when one of them fired a shot into the air. apparently with a gun stolen from the officer's home. >> at this point it appears to be completely random. like many cities in the bay area, our residential burglaries are on the rise and have been for quite a while. >> last month an officer in brentwood shot and wounded a suspected burglar inside his home. other bay area headlines on this friday. an armed robbery at a 7-eleven in fairfield. police say one of two men pulled out a handgun sunday when the store clerk opened the cash register. no word on how much money they took. this is one of two armed robberies that happened within minutes of one another. police suspect they are related. and bay area state senator jerry hill plans to introduce a bill today that would require people with more than one dui

conviction to install an ignition interlock device on their cars. he will make the official announcement at chp headquarters in redwood city this morning at 10:00. time is 6:38 right now. coming up, how a bizarre dognapping ended happily for a frantic owner. >> plus, it's possibly the most magnificent bay area home no one has ever lived in. what $25 million will buy you these days. we'll give you a tour. >> and the market just opened up about 10 minutes ago. let's check the early numbers. you can see the dow is down about 65 points. coming up we are going to get an update from erica ferrari of cbsmoneywatch.com. sleep train. wishing you a happy new year.

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er cate cauguira today san francisco muni is holding a 100 birthday party, free rides available to everyone for 24 hours. cbs 5 reporter cate caugiran is in san francisco with more on the muni centennial. cool for the riders today, cate. >> reporter: yeah. it's nice that muni is giving riders a present on its own birthday. michelle, we're actually at geary and market, where the first muni line started here in downtown and went to 33rd avenue. to celebrate this centennial, all of muni service including the cable cars will be free until 5:00 tomorrow morning. originally they planned to charge 5 cents the original cost 100 years ago. to give you a little history, san francisco has had some form of public transit since 1851 with land developers operating horse-drawn buggies. it wasn't until 100 years in 1912 that san francisco launched the u.s.' first municipal transit system.

now muni serves 200 million passengers a year on its entire system including cable cars so we have come a long way since then. again the free rides go until 5:00 in the morning tomorrow. it won't be the last time we see free rides on muni. muni will be offering free rides new year's eve as they have in the past 13 years. live in san francisco, cate caugiran, cbs 5. >> thank you. a waterfront villa in belvidere will be auctioned off sunday. it's on the tip of the exclusive island with stunning views of san francisco. >> your parents are in town, right? >> just saying. could fetch up to $25 million, but as don ford shows us you don't have to have all the cash up front. reporter: it's one of the finest homes in the country and quite possibly one of the finest view homes in the world. and this sunday it will be sold at auction. meet olivia decker realtor to the stars. if you have the money, then in her eyes, you're a star. >> it's the largest home in belvidere. i call it the virgin home. no one has lived here yet. >> reporter: incredible world

class views from just about every room. the deck alone is over 5,000 square feet. the master suite on the third floor opens out to the golden gate bridge. the entire city looks close enough to touch. and, of course, there's a home theater, wine cellar and private pool complete with art. the wildlife flies and swims just yards away. and this beauty has brains, too. half dozen wall-mounted ipads control lights, temperatures and, yes, security cameras. but there's one big question. there's an old saying that says if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it. well, clearly i can't afford it so i'm asking. guy masters is a consultant working with olivia. >> it's opened to register bidders only. in order to be a registered bidder you need a $300,000 cashiers check. >> reporter: that only gets you in the door bid. the starting bid will be $25 million. but it's believed the price will top $45 million.

in belvidere, don ford, cbs 5. >> your realtime captioner: last session of the year... >> i think i like the shoes better than the house, could afford those. >> bet the property taxes are like half million a year. wall street is 15 minutes into the next-to-last session of the year. erica ferrari is in this morning for jason brooks. >> reporter: stocks opened lower for a fifth consecutive day. investors remain on edge as monday night's "fiscal cliff" deadline inches closer. president obama meets with congressional leaders today to try and hammer out a last- minute plan to avoid billions of dollars in automatic tax increases and government spending cuts set to kick in january 1. a new report suggests the looming "fiscal cliff" is forcing consumers to lose confidence in the nation's

economy. the conference board says its consumer price index fell sharply for the second month. a potential dock worker strike is possible on the east and gulf coast which threatens to cost the nation's economy billions. more than 14,000 longshoremen are ready to walk off the job sunday. a strike would shut ports from boston to houston. those ports move as much as 100 million tons of goods each year including everything from flat screen tvs, sneaker and snow shovels. the housing market shows new signs of rebounding. the commerce department says sales of new homes increased by about 4.5% in november from the month before. that's the fastest pace in two years. and that's your moneywatch. for more, stay with cbsmoneywatch.com. back to you. >> thank you. with all the snow falling in the sierra, avalanche concerns are on the minds of many after two people died at resorts this week. cbs reporter neda iranpour asks, what's being done to keep

skiers safe? >> reporter: it's one of the snowiest decembers here at northstar ski resort during one of the busiest weeks. >> i love snow. it's really cool because it's all fluffy and soft. >> the conditions are amazing, we have had a lot of new snow. >> reporter: but potential for avalanches goes up as the snowpack does. >> it helps with a sliding surface. you have a hard base underneath and light snow on top. >> reporter: two avalanches on christmas eve killed two people at tahoe ski resorts. a patroller is up before the sun trying to create safe zones. here's video from heavenly mountain resort. they use explosives to blast the unstable snow at the mountaintops. it controls pro-active avalanche to settle snow for skiers. >> if we don't control then the avalanches are going to get worse. they get bigger and more destructive. >> reporter: it's the same technique that took a ski patroller's life at alpine this week. controlled blasts are the key to safety. anything caught in the way will

go under. >> ski with a buddy, stay within visual contact, have a plan, meeting spot. >> reporter: a life-saving tool is a rescue beacon so this is in transmitting mode. if i got stuck in an avalanche, vince would actually be able to turn his on and find me. the closer he gets to a victim, the faster the beacon beeps. if there's no beacon, they search by probes with a tedious process of poking and prodding every foot of snow. >> you probe left, center to right shoulder to shoulder. >> reporter: this is tahoe at its finest. >> this is what we want for this time of year. >> reporter: it provides a rush and breathtaking views when do you it right. i'm neda iranpour for cbs 5. it's not even january and they have over 100 inches of snow up there. >> i know. and he knows because he was skiing last week. >> i know. i know. we are going to have to get you up to tahoe, right? you like skiing. >> love it.

absolutely. >> michelle too. >> but not you. >> not me. i know. what's up with that? >> we'll book you for the lodge. >> i'm good with that. [ laughter ] >> i'm good, yeah, hiding out in the ski lodge. so today might be a good day to do some skiing. there are no chain requirements right now up towards the sierra. and then things are changing. they are actually picking up more snow in the sierra meaning rain for us. our hi-def doppler is lighting up. this is actually the system that's just in front of the main storm system that's heading our way. this may be bringing us a few sprinkles mainly in the north bay. by later on this morning. yeah, this afternoon, that's really when we're look at light pockets of moderate rain across the bay area and then that chance of wet weather, it continues into the weekend at least the first half of the weekend. so all that high pressure that brought us sunshine yesterday dry skies, that's now moving inland. that's out of here for the most part. this is what we're watching.

it's a low on the approach so jackets, umbrellas, that's what you'll need for today especially the later half. so again we're not talking about a huge rainout. we're tallying the rain totals here with our futurecast. we're looking at a half inch or much less. a few tenths of an in. for the most part through tomorrow morning. if you are doing any traveling out by sfo, not expecting any delays. afternoon showers however with highs in the low 50s. it's going to be cold even colder still today than what we saw yesterday. around the country things get unsettled in houston, thundershowers expected there. snow in chicago. clearing out in denver, chilly high 37 degrees there and here at home, yeah, winter weather. look at this. low 50s all that blue you see means it's going to be chilly in santa rosa, napa a little more mild around the bay 54 in oakland and fremont. but again, colder today than yesterday. the unsettled weather continues into saturday morning, clearing for sunday. we could see mostly sunny skies

and a chance of rain in our forecast. it looks like for the most part new year's eve day, if you have any new year's eve plans at night dry through new year's day tuesday. and then wednesday, things get wet once again. if you are about to hit roads, the roads look great all across the bay area. it is a holiday and we're seeing extra "holiday light" traffic. in fact, we have been seeing it all week at the bay bridge toll plaza. they have never had to turn on the metering lights. today appears to be the same story, cash and fastrak lanes look clear. i made this map of the east bay. first we'll show you palette. this is a live look 101 near university. slight delays, looks like they have the metering lights on getting on the freeway. the main lines still look good. now look at this map of the east bay. overall your drive times look so good. so unusual to see this down the eastshore freeway. westbound 24, no delays out of orinda towards the oakland area. better news now in novato. we were watching this. it was a stall that cleared

westbound 37 on that ramp to northbound 101 and the nimitz. looks great past the oakland coliseum all the way towards the macarthur maze. we'll have much more traffic and weather coming up. back to you guys. >> thank you. some good news for californians who have used payday loans services. you may be getting some of your money back. the san francisco city attorney announced yesterday cincinnati- based check 'n go has agreed to pay back $4.3 million. the company is accused of skirting state law and charging some customers up to 400% interest. an l.a. area pet has been reunited with its owner after being dognapped and held for ransom. wolfie the pomeranian and german shepherd got out of their owner's home wednesday through an open gate. a neighbor got the german shepherd but wolfie was too quick. >> my dog was out in the yard and someone snatched him. a car came by a white car and before we could get to him, the guy grabbed him and put him in

his car and took off. >> stacey dunton says about 10 minutes later she got a call from a blocked number. it was a man demanding money for the pooch. but he didn't specify an amount. the next day the pomeranian was turned up at a nearby petco. employees say the man who left him wrote down a phone number which turned out to be dutton's. police are trying to track down the dognapper. such a bizarre story. >> maybe he had a conscience after all if did he that with the phone number. >> realized he could be in a lot of trouble. >> got her dog back. 6:53. wet weather may be back in the picture for the holiday weekend. >> she is a record-breaker and heartbreaker. meet the world's tallest female dog. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

top stories.. police in oak are investigating the death three people overnight.. at different crime scenes. two people were shot to death in rt time police in oakland are investigating the death of three people overnight at two different crime scenes. two people were shot to death in west oakland. a short time later a person was stabbed in the seminary area. police are trying to figure out if the homicides are related. in gloucester county, new jersey, a prisoner opened fire inside the police station this morning. three officers were wounded. the prisoner was shot and killed. the officers' injuries don't appear to be life-threatening. one is still receiving treatment at the hospital. president obama meets today with top congressional leaders to try and find a way toward a budget agreement. otherwise, the so-called "fiscal cliff" looms on january 1. that's when automatic tax hikes and spending cuts go into effect. senate majority leader harry reid says even if something gets done now there may not be enough time to get it through congress. we'll just wait to see what happens. >> we have been waiting a long

time. >> i know. >> hopefully the deadline will help. we have a big holiday weekend and a wee bit of rain. >> that's this afternoon the right now it's cold. that's what we'll focus on in the meantime. cold temperatures are dipping below freezing now. look at fairfield, that's just dropped to 31 degrees. some people scraping some frost off their windshields this morning. 39 in vallejo. 35 santa rosa. so all that blue tells us it's chilly. and unfortunately by this afternoon, well, i guess it's fortunately if you like the cold weather, but it is going to be slightly cooler today than yesterday. a lot of low 50s. 52 santa rosa. only 50 in fairfield. a little more mild around the bay, 54 in oakland and fremont. as frank just mentioned, the rain, light rain set to hit the bay area friday afternoon into saturday morning. clearing for sunday. and then another chance of rain now on new year's eve day. new year's eve night and new year's day both look dry with more wet weather headed our way on wednesday.

all right. let's hit the roads and show you what it looks like towards the dublin interchange. westbound 580 looks great. no delay from the altamont pass and through livermore all the way towards the dublin- pleasanton area. mass transit no delay for anything. everything has been looking great as we have been saying all morning, muni 100th birthday so they are offering free rides all day today and as they have been doing for many years on new year's eve night. >> cable car will be packed. >> yeah. >> i know. >> good one. this next story is pretty amazing. according to guinness world records, a dog in arizona is the world's tallest female dog. that would be bella a great dane that stands over 3 feet tall on all fours. she weighs 170 pounds, big dog. to measure bella her owners had to get a special measuring stick. they were inspired to put her in the running after seeing a former winner giant george. >> how would you like to feed her every morning? >> eight cans of food, kibble

and back to the store. >> there you go. thanks for watching. have a great morning. >> beautiful day. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com good morning to our viewers in the west, it is friday, december 28th, 2012. welcome to "cbs this morning." president obama and congressional leaders meet later today trying to hammer out a deal on the fiscal cliff. we'll ask republican senator bob corker if a deal is likely, and tell you how no deal could significantly impact everything from the price of milk to the price of gas. >> we also look back at the life and legacy of general norman schwarzkopf and a double agent tells "60 minutes" how he used facebook to infiltrate al qaeda. >> we begin with a look at today's "eye opener" your world in 90 seconds. >> the republicans in the house have left town, the negotiations